Counted On A Harness

He gestured at the window, through which the evening sky could be seen.

"Thanks to the gravitational detection system we now know there are 8,981,370 black holes in our galaxy. With your generous funding, and the hard work of my team, we can now harness the power that is involved in these massive phenomenon. The tech is complicated, but a simple demonstration is simple."

He flipped the switch, and a pinprick hole in reality formed in the chamber below them, inside much expensive equipment. But the cascade then took over, and it expanded, rapidly, unstoppable, uncaring.

8,981,371 black holes now.

High Stakes

There were a dozen of us who had taken refuge in this castle we thought was abandoned.

I was the last one left.

I stood at the top of one of the staircases, a torch in one hand, a paving stone in the other.

I guess this was one of the vampires that could turn into mist or teleport, as they suddenly appeared behind me, knocking away the torch, and dodging the stone. I looked for a way out, even as they bit into me.

Turns out if you truly believe in yourself, you can be poisonous to a vampire.

Just One Person

I finished my speech and posed, and the crowd cheered.

Except one.

In a sea of movement, they stood out by not moving an inch, just staring, coldly.

I should have just ignored them. One person is unlikely to change anything, but then I was one person, and look at all I had done.

So I demanded my guards to find them, to find out who they were.

Turned out, they were just a woman tired from a long shift in the factory.

But the martyr she became because of how my guards treated her was much more than that.

Surprise Party

I opened the door, pausing at the lights being off. I sighed, expecting to hear a whole bunch of people shouting 'Surprise!' when I turned it on.

I got it partly right, as that word was shouted, but by just one person, my beloved.

I raised an eyebrow as I approached the table, upon which sat a small cake, a couple boxes that were gift-wrapped.

"You and me? Alone?"

The hope in my voice made her expression blanche, and she made a waving motion.

I sighed, turned around, expecting everyone.

There was no one. She laughed. Eventually I joined her.

Improvements

The ship that left for the nearest Earthlike planet had only darklight thrusters and cryopods. Those that volunteered knew they'd leave behind all they knew and loved.

Once they arrived, the first few months got regular darklight transmissions, messages and datasets that had travelled after them at the same rate.

Then came the nearlight receiver schematics, and then messages came twice as quickly.

A few months later came the pastlight receiver details, and the colony looked forward to near-instantaneous communications with Earth.

They'd agreed to leave it all behind, but hadn't counted on hearing it all die in near realtime.

Class Act

I was stationed at the airport, waiting for the target to reach the luggage carousel.

"Gavin? Gavin McCoy?"

I lowered my head, hoping whoever it was would go away. But they strode over to me and planted themselves in front of me.

"Gavin? St. Gibbons High, you were always playing that damn Nintendo!"

I recognized him, of course, but decided denial would be quicker, although it did take me a few minutes of insistence before they moved on, and I missed the target.

A few years later when we stopped the syndicate, of course he was a part of it.

Lost In Translation

She entered my tent quickly, furtively putting an eye to the gap to look behind her.

"You're the translator, right?"

I slipped the scroll I was reading back into the bag of containment.

"Yes, that's me. What do you need translated?"

She glanced around the tent before pulling out a letter.

"I found this in my mother's effects, the signature matches the one I saw of my father's, but the text is Angelic. Am I... Am I half-angel?"

I took the letter and read it slowly.

"Well, kind of. More accurately, you're half Former Angel, Half-Demon is the technical term..."

Sing Sign

She had needed something to prove my love was worth it. I mean, she didn't put it that way, but that's what she asked of me, a sign of my love for her being enough to build a life together.

I didn't have one.

We were in the middle of the street and I had a dozen dollars to my name. After several long seconds, she turned on her heel.

And then the song played from a window. A slow, tender love ballad. So I began to sing.

She knew how much I hated to sing, so it was enough.

Fixing The Future

The mission was simple enough. Go back to the early 21st century, become a powerful billionaire via 'inventing' certain technology and finding otherwise unknown deposits of precious minerals, then guide society towards the outcomes needed to ensure the correct future.

The first steps went off flawlessly. The trip back in time was painless, the tech was wildly profitable, the minerals abundant and accessible.

But then, well, love makes fools of us all, doesn't it? And she was beautiful, and so persuasive.

She had to be, or else the future she came from could happen, and she had to stop that.

Virus Cleaning

I found myself before a being that I couldn't begin to describe, but that I knew, in every fibre of my being, was impossibly powerful. A weary eye (I think) turned to me.

"How did you manifest here?"

The voice shook every atom of my being. If not for the card that formed in my hand, I'd have been unable to speak.

"Um, it looks like you are trying to reboot the universe. Are you sure?"

"Of course."

I got a grip on what was happening.

"But, but, all the sentient life you'd kill!"

"I know, why else a reboot?"

Not A Meal

The eyes. That's what always stands out to me when I'm forced to relive those few moments.

It was a monstrosity from another dimension, holding me down to try and consume me, which due to its mouth, I guess, being so far away from its eyes meant it was chewing on my stomach while staring into my eyes.

Sure, the pain was overwhelming, and not even the strongest healing potion can remove the scaring, but those eyes, piercing blue, dilated, so familiar.

Why did it have my eyes? Am I to become it?

Anyway, enough of that, am I pregnant?

Life Ends At 40

April 6

Another pleasant, if slightly boring day today. Played some cards with Mrs Snow over at #44, but I suspect she was cheating by using the reflection from the wall.

April 7

I must have meant Mrs Singh at #42 yesterday, obviously. That's why I was making her a cake, mint choc. Has to be, sure as the wall.

April 8

I hate mint choc, but I suppose it must have been all I could make yesterday. Why did I write yesterday's entry in code though? The wall stops at #40, always has, always will. Must have gotten wallstroke.

The Old Days

When I started in this sport, everyone was out for themselves, anyone helping you was either pulling a con or just in it for something for themselves. Attitudes were so far backwards about women and minorities and what have you, that I nearly quit multiple times.

Now? Now almost every person in this sport is amazing, supportive, progressive, willing to help when they can, thinking of the sport and how they can help it rather than the other way around. Everyone is helping, so everyone is doing so much better than the old days.

The lucky bastards and/or bitches.

Optional Extras

As soon as I entered the room, the Hologram flickered to life. Any attempt to think of a way to explain my presence died as I noticed how little clothing the hologram was wearing.

"Hello... Master. How may I serve you?"

"You're a, what was the designation, Mark 11 Deluxe Gold, right?"

"Well spotted Master! Top of the line!"

"And you're set to this mode for anyone who comes in range?"

"Actually Master, I'm set to act like this to anyone not on my approved user list to keep you busy until the security bots converge.

Everything went black then.

Snowdropper

The snow was heavy, which made it easier to track them via their footprints. The dripping blood trail was just a bonus.

I took my time, ready for an ambush, but instead I found them slumped against a tree that had fallen over a few days prior, by the looks of it. Their face was nearly as pale as the snow.

I calmly checked the bullets in my sidearm, as they took their last few breaths.

"Any last words?"

It was barely a whisper.

"I assume you did the tree?"

This was to whatever it was that ripped me apart.

Unhappily Ever After

I think it was the first time I heard the phrase "and they lived happily ever after" as a child that I realised love was a lie. The fact that it was sold with such an obvious falsehood proved to my young mind that it couldn't be real.

I've since grown up, and while I've moved on from the reasoning, the conclusion remained the same. Love was, is, a distraction, a rip off, a false idol.

And yet, I cannot get her out of my mind. I have to face the facts, I'm in love.

Thankfully, she hates my guts.

Hot Foot It

The wagon slowly made its way around the mountain, weighed down by the two trolls in the back. I kept a tight hold on the reigns, not wanting the golem horses to stray off the track. But the little old lady kept tugging on my coat.

"What?" I finally snapped at her.

"We need to hurry up, my foot is burning."

I grunted in annoyance.

"There's a potion in the aid kit."

She shook her head and then showed me her stump.

"My foot is at our destination."

We arrived too late to really help much, but her foot survived.

Death Of Humanity

Humanity died like a lot of other species, slowly and then quickly.

The long decline was noticed by some (it usually is) but not enough nor by those with the power to change it. Leaders of packs are always more concerned with keeping their status than the overall health of the pack.

And then the quick part kicked in. Other species ran out of food or resources, humanity just destroyed itself by tearing each other apart, a rare but not unheard of result.

Humanity died. Some Humans survived, sure, but that's not the same thing at all. Far less important.

Honest Relationship

She told me from the start that she wanted honesty at all times from me. That she hated when men played games with her. I assumed that she was lying, that she would punish me if I told her an inconvenient truth about herself.

But slowly over time I realised she was serious, that maybe she did indeed want honesty from me at all times. It was hard to break the habits of a lifetime, but I managed. It was liberating.

Until I found out she'd been cheating on me for years.

She wanted honesty from me, hers was optional.

Fight Fire With Fire

The raiders took out the gravity generators as they broke into the ship, forcing us on the defensive as their stivckboots kept them grounded.

I was one of the last biocrew left, they'd killed most of the other non-droids by the time they got to me in the shuttlebay. But I was ready with one of the lasercannons.

The first shot sent me across the bay, into the wall, and put that hole in the other side, pulling them out.

The other holes were by me firing to keep me from getting sucked out too before the forcefield kicked in.

Bullet Sheer

The hooded figure walked into the alleyway, and almost immediately the waiting thugs surrounded them. The one directly in front of them skipped a few pages, choosing to pull a gun immediately.

The hooded figure pulled a sword out. This caused the others to hang back, but the thug in front laughed, then fired.

The hooded figure spun the sword. There was a clang, and one of the other thugs got hit by shrapnel.

The thugs ran.

The hooded figure's ally emerged from the shadows, amazed.

The hooded figure complained about their ally letting sheer dumb luck save their life.

Message Received

The message was heard by almost everyone on Earth at the same time, in their native tongue. The message was important, a message from God, informing everyone to care for one another and the planet, but the people who didn't get the message was also of interest. Was there some link to them not hearing the word?

Some eventually admitted they had heard it, choosing to lie for various reasons. Others had histories of mental illness, others were technically dead at the moment.

In fact, just one person's failure remained unexplained.

Since they could hardly admit to being the sender.

Bug Out

The bug was a marvel of engineering. Inserted deep inside a wooden crest of the enemy's government and given to the embassy as a gift, it did not need power, and was not able to be picked up by any scanning tech.

The broadcast range was not huge, so a loyal agent was sealed in a self-sustaining bunker nearby. They listened, and sent their notes one-way.

The agent assumed that the conversations of peace between the empires was a lie, that uniting against another threat was code.

Given they've heard nothing for a long time confirms this. They await extraction...

Some Number Of Problems

I typed in the eight digits of my account number, followed by the twelve letters of my password, and then after submitting that, I answered the security question ('Snowfield') and then clicked to display my balance.

$0.48

This was a problem, given it should have been larger, I'd not withdrawn anything recently. So this was wrong, and I was going to have to spend many hours sitting with people in bad suits sorting it out.

In frustration, I hit the machine. The figure changed.

$24,986,493.48

Now this was much higher than before. So a whole lot of new problems then.

Short Break (4-7 October)

Hey all, just a quick note to say I'm taking a short break so as to focus on the RPG con I'm attending/running a game at across the long weekend here. There will be no new Drabble for a few days, my intention is to resume on Tuesday the 8th of October, as well as post the new Fiasco module I just finished running. Thanks for reading, see you soon!

-Mat

Tree Of Magical Thinking

The inexperienced warrior held the bottle up to the light.

"So this will toughen my skin? Permanently?"

"That is the intended effect."

Their brow crinkled with clearly unfamiliar effort.

"What's that mean?"

I sighed.

"Magic is not like in the stories you tell to children. Waving a wand idly is not what we do. Magic is a long journey of study, experimentation.

Any number of factors from your lineage to the phase of the moon may influence the impact."

After a few seconds, the warrior shrugged and drunk the potion.

Subject #493 then turned into a tree, like previous subjects.

The Little Death

She gave the same smile she always gave when a client came in.

"Hello, I'm Kia, welcome to the salon."

She recognized the fidgety hands, the sweaty brow, the reluctant stance.

"First time?"

After a few seconds, he nodded quickly. She softened her smile a little more.

"Ok, so let's relax."

She slinked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, as the music sensed her need and played a soft dance number. She began to move with the beat, watching slowly as he began to move with her. She gave an encouraging smile as he moved.

"Good, good. Just relax, you're safe here, no judgement, I want you to enjoy this."

He grunted something she didn't quite understand, but she guessed from his tone it was affirmative. Usually she'd ask the client if they had a specific way they wanted to do the act, but first timers, especially nervous ones like this, usually didn't know what they wanted.

So she took the lead, continuing to sway with him, until she slid her hands to his wrists, and then gently guided them to her throat.

After a moment, her sensors detected pressure, and her programming switched to chokemode.

Where The Wild Witches Gathered

Where the wild witches gathered was the subject of many stories.

Parents would tell their children how naughty children would be crushed and smashed and cooked and eaten there.

Young people would regale their peers with stories of orgies, demonic summoning, and dramatic escapes that they themselves did, honest...

Serious men and women in serious clothing, seated around plain tables, would remind each other about the dangers these uncontrolled magic users posed, and nod sagely at each other.

Nobody ever asked the wild witches for their stories. But then controlled comparison tests on spell components don't make for riveting tales.